“The court finds due to the bitemark, DNA and hair evidence that the People’s case was undermined and points unerringly to innocence,” the court stated in a minute order from Monday’s hearing.

Innocence Project lawyer Jan Stiglitz described the ruling as good news, saying they undermined evidence used to convict Richards and now have other evidence that points to someone else as the killer.

“With luck, if the District Attorney doesn’t continue the fight, he could be released in a couple of months,” said Stiglitz, a professor at California Western School of Law in San Diego. “They have the right to appeal, and they have the absolute right to re-prosecute him.”

Prosecutors vigorously fought the writ in Superior Court. They did not return phone calls for comment.

Richards was convicted of his wife’s death in 1997. After three mistrials, two of which resulted in hung juries, Richards was found guilty of first-degree murder of 40-year-old Pamela Richards. She was found dead outside the couple’s Summit Valley home on Aug. 10, 1993.

The 40-year-old victim was beaten with fist-sized rocks and strangled, and her skull was crushed with a stepping stone and cinder block.

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